Brutal Killer Executed for Murdering His Family

HUNTSVILLE, TX -- On Wednesday evening, Texas executed a man accused of brutally murdering his pregnant wife, 5-year-old daughter, and father-in-law.

According to court documents, back in 2009, John Hummel stabbed his wife Joy Hummel more than 30 times. He then beat his daughter Jodi Hummel and his father-in-law Clyde Bedford to death with a baseball bat.

After the brutal murders, Hummel set the home on fire.

During the trial, prosecutors alleged Hummel killed his family because he wanted to run off with a woman he had met at a convenience store.

They alleged the 45-year-old hospital security guard had attempted to kill his family before using rat poison in a spaghetti dinner.

“This guy senselessly took the life of a beautiful mother, a beautiful child, and a grandfather that just did everything for them. For him to want to be single and just kill them this way is senseless,” said former prosecutor Miles Brissette.

According to Brissette, Hummel spent 30 minutes in his kitchen "psyching himself up” before murdering his wife.

For the Bedford family, the horrific crime will always leave them wondering why.

“Come on, your own baby. You gotta be some kind of monster,” said Cylinda Bedford. “I don’t have no closure. And him being put to death, is not going to be closure either because then we’ll never know why.”

According to Bedford, her sister Joy was bubbly and outgoing. She described her niece as being excited to start school and her father as a loving grandfather.

Hummel fled to California after the murders where he was eventually arrested. He would ultimately confess to the killings.

Hummel was later tried and convicted of capital murder for the deaths of his wife and father-in-law. He was sentenced to death and was originally scheduled to receive the lethal injection in March of 2020. The execution was delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Attorneys for Hummel filed multiple appeals on behalf of their client over the years. Over the years they claimed Hummel had not been properly assessed on whether he would be a future danger and that Hummel's trial lawyer could have questions of impropriety after he got a job with the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Office, which convicted Hummel.